The objective of this research is to describe, analyze and evaluate the impact of municipal employee unions on the delivery of municipal services. Specifically, we seek to answer the following questions: (1) what accounts for the emergence and rapid growth of municipal employee organizations in recent past; (2) what are the objectives of these organizations and what influences shape those objectives; (3) what impact do these organizations have on labor costs of public services, and what impact do these costs have on the quality and/or levels of service delivered; (4) what non-monetary impact do these organizations have on service delivery; and (5) what are the policy implications of the growth of municipal employee unions? Because of the exploratory nature of this research, the methods to be employed consist of the development of case studies designed to answer each of these questions. We propose to conduct case studies in Boston, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Philadelphia. These case studies will represent a large body of data on municipal employee unions and the effect that these organizations are having on the social and political life of metropolitan areas. This information will permit us, and other scholars, to begin to answer the important academic and policy questions raised by the rapid growth of these unions in the past decade. Based on these case studies, we intend to publish articles, monographs, and books which focus on one or more of the research questions posed above.